


Syd's Birthday

by Fuffywumple



Category: I Am Not Okay with This (TV 2020)
Genre: Drug Use, Gen, Recreational Drug Use, Syd is grumpy, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fuffywumple/pseuds/Fuffywumple
Summary: Sydney absolutely hates her birthday, but Stan and Dina are hellbent on changing her mind about being a birthday Grinch.
Relationships: Sydney Novak & Dina, Sydney Novak & Stanley Barber, Sydney Novak & Stanley Barber & Dina
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	Syd's Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this at 3am and I don't even remember half of it. But I figured, eh, why not?

_ Dear Diary, _

_ Do you know what day it is? Of course you don’t, because I haven’t told you yet. _

_ Today is my fucking birthday. Yippee… _

_ 18 years old and I have nothing to show for it. If it were up to me, I’d destroy the very existence of birthdays and we can all tell our age by the amount of shit we’ve been through in our lives. _

_ Well, if that were the logic, then I’d be a fucking relic. _

_ Whatever. Today I’m just going to fade into the background and hope no one sees me, looks at me, or breathes near me. If this is my birthday, then I can do whatever I want. Even if that means- _

Stanley Barber slammed his hand down on the cafeteria table, making every nerve in Syd’s body explode. Her eyes shot wide open, and she almost stabbed his hand with the  _ very  _ sharp pencil in her hand.

“Jesus, Stan. What’s the matter with you?” Syd hissed, between clenched teeth.

“Nothing, I just-” Stan faltered for a second, chewing his lip, “you okay?”

Sydney huffed through her nose, “I was, until you scared the shit out of me.”

Stan frowned, “I’m sorry. You kind of spaced out.”

“No, I-” Syd paused, mulling that over, “I thought you were done.”

_ He wasn’t, of course. I have an uncanny ability to ignore the people around me, and ultimately drive them away until all I have is myself. _

_ Whew. I guess I have a lot of pent up emotions today. Wonder why. Maybe it’s because I’m kind of hiding the ability to move shit with my mind. It keeps getting harder and harder, and seeing how Stan knows now, I’m not doing a good job. _

“Anyway,” Stan shone his uncanny ability to ignore my bullshit, “you should come over after school.”

“Why?”

Stan scratched his nose, “I dunno. We can listen to some Bloodwitch, maybe have a smoke.”

“Stan, I don’t know…” Syd started to protest.

“Come on,” Stan practically started begging leaning forward to capture Syd’s attention. “I got the strawberry paper. I know it’s your favorite.”

Sydney felt herself frown, “This isn’t, like, a birthday thing, is it?”

“What? No.” Stan said, “you’ve already made it clear that you don’t like birthdays, so this is just a hang out between friends. Swear.”

_ So I said yes, because getting high right now doesn’t sound like that bad of an idea. Maybe it’ll suppress these powers so I can go back to losing my temper and it not almost leading to death and/or injury. _

_ I have to pick Goop up from school and watch him until mom gets home from work tonight. He counts down the days to his birthday every year, and he tries to get me excited about mine, but… I don’t get the point, I haven’t since I was 15. Since my life officially started going to shit. _

_ Avoiding the subject was tough, but Liam was pretty tired out. He took a nap on the couch while I watched the news until mom got home. She threw a bit of a hissy-fit when I said I was going out tonight. But, hey, it’s  _ my  _ birthday, and it’s a Friday night. _

_ It was dark when I left for Stan’s place. I walked pretty fast down the block to where his old house was. When I knocked, he answered immediately. _

“Syd!” Stan grabbed her by the sweater, and yanked her inside before she could even get a word out. “Come on, we’ve been waiting for you.”

“Wait, we? Who is we?” Syd asked while getting dragged down the rickety stairs.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Stan’s room had the most pathetic little streamers everywhere. A couple of balloons were tossed around the floor, and a piece of poster paper with  **HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYD** written on it in Stan’s chicken scratch. Among the fray, Dina stood with a party hat.

“What the hell is this?” Syd asked.

“Exactly what it looks like.” Dina said, stepping forward to greet the two as they got to the bottom of the stairs.

Syd shuffled back and forth on her feet, clutching her arm so hard that she could feel her nails starting to dig into her skin. Her face heated, causing a pressure to form around her eyes.

_ Don’t cry, Syd. Keep it together. _

“Hey, you okay?” Dina placed her hand on Syd's shoulder, to which she jumped.

“N-no. I am not okay.” Syd shook her head, “I told you two that I  _ don’t  _ like birthdays, and your brilliant plan was to  _ throw me a birthday party _ ?”

Stan and Dina look at each other, exchanging a look of accusation between themselves. Meanwhile, Syd was shaking out her hands in an attempt to keep herself calm.

“Syd.” Dina looked back at Syd, her eyes were so gentle, “we know. But this is the first birthday I’ve spent with you, and you’re eighteen now. It’s kind of a big deal.”

Sydney scoffed, shaking her head and shrinking her hands into the over sized sleeves of her patterned sweater. “No, it really isn’t.”

“Hate to split hairs here,” Stan said, “but it really is, Syd. Let’s celebrate.”

_ Well, there went my anti-birthday stance. Before long I had a party hat strapped diagonally on my head, with one of the dumb noise makers danging from my lips while Stan blasted Reins of Hell, Bloodwitch’s best album to date. I guess it’s fair to say that Dina wasn’t exactly a fan. _

_ As much as the music was killer, I refused to do anything but sit against the wall and suck down one of Stan’s joints all on my own. The strawberry paper added a little sweetness to the bitter drug. Stan and Dina tried to get me to cheer up, but it took me a whole joint to start loosening up. _

_ For the first time in over a week, I felt weightless. My powers felt so far away, and I was starting to feel like a normal teenager again. Just a normal girl with her friends, celebrating her birthday. _

Standing on Stan’s bed, Syd reached her hands down to where Dina stood at the foot. “Come on, Dina. Let’s dance.”

“What happened to your ‘I hate birthdays’ composure?” Dina asked, clearly amused, and much more sober.

“I’m too high to care.”

Taking her hands, Dina let Syd pull her up on the bed (with significant effort, to be noted.) The sound of Stan’s laughter floated through the music as Syd waved her limbs in what she wanted to be dancing, but at that point she wasn’t really sure. 

Syd pulled Dina close, and kept dancing along to the music like it was the only thing keeping her alive. When she started to get tired, that’s when Stan found the beer. He rationed the warm cans out, and Syd grabbed at her drink. All the dancing made her thirsty.

She didn’t really like the taste, it made her instinctively cringe, but she chugged it anyway. Soon, beer bottles were littered on the floor among the balloons and streamers.

By the time Stan put on a third Bloodwitch album, Syd’s eyes were heavy and her limbs were sore. The room was shrouded in smoke and it was unbelievably hot. But Syd didn’t care. How could she?

As the three of them lie on Stan’s bed, staring at the roof dimly lit by a few strings of Christmas lights, Syd’s breathing was calmer than she could have ever remembered it being. Her head was pressed up against Dina’s, and her elbow was digging into Stan’s stomach.

“So,” Dina broke the silence between them, “on a scale from one to ten, how insufferable was that?”

Syd chuckled, her mouth hanging open, “One.”

She felt Dina’s head tilt over to look at her. Syd blinked for a moment before she turned her head to meet Dina’s. Their noses were almost touching, and Dina’s breath was warm against Syd’s face.

“I’m glad.” Dina said.

“Me too.”

Dina looked over at Stan, who was sleeping with his mouth cracked open, and a little snore rumbling from his throat. Dina and Syd laughed, making sure not to be loud enough to wake him. Syd’s laughter turned into a toothy grin, which then faded down into a thin lipped smile.

“Thank you.” Syd said. She didn’t get to hear Dina’s response before she fell asleep.

_ Dear Diary, _

_ I guess birthdays aren’t all that bad. _

_ Last night was… the best I’ve felt in so long. I got to shed the weight of the world, forget about the powers that were haunting me, and instead, spend time with my best friends. When I woke up this morning, we were all on Stan’s bed, sleeping in a doggy pile. I slipped out before either of them woke. _

_ My head hurts, and my stomach is swimming, but regret is the furthest thing from my mind. The second I entered the house, and mom smelled my sweater I knew I was ready to be thrown back into my shitty existence with my shitty family and my shitty powers. But at least I got a break from it all, even if it was just a night. _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for making it this far, and I can't promise that this won't be my last 3am caffeine fic.


End file.
